Monday, 28 September 2015

Marketing in today’s online world is very different from many years ago. Even SEO was different years ago. You can easily slip past the search engine censors and reach success without considering the complex details of SEO. But today, search engine optimization is getting tough. There is more competition and Google is smarter than ever. If you want to get the edge over the competition, you need to be doing things right. Below are some valuable SEO tips to help you drive more traffic, leads, and sales.

Know your target keywords. You can determine your keywords based on your demographic and an analysis of current search trends. Next is to get your readers interested in your content. This is the first step in building a relationship with your audience.

Being simple is usually better. When it comes to creating content, it is important to make a connection with your target audience. And keeping it simple is one of the best way to get information across your audience.

Make sure your website is mobile responsive.

Take advantage of infographics. They can help catch a reader’s attention and draw them into the content.

Decide which social media platforms will work well for your business.

Always remember to keep your content relevant.

Search engine optimization is dynamic and it requires you to keep up with the latest practices launched by the search engines. With Marketing Digest, you can stay updated with the meatiest online marketing news and trends.

Saturday, 26 September 2015

If you’re a small business owner, social media is one of the best tools you can use for free to get the word out on your business. Did you know that over 73% of small business owners are using social media to power their brand? Sharing your content to hundreds of thousands of your followers at once is not the only benefit you can enjoy from using social media. Here are a few more reasons how going social can help your business.

Social media makes it easier for you to learn more about your audience. For many businesses, one of the keys to success is knowing your customers. The knowledge you get can help you plan for your marketing campaigns better, which will provide a better ROI in the long run.

Social networks can significantly help you find new customers and expand your reach.

Social media can help increase your website’s traffic and search ranking.

You can share content easier and faster with social media.

Through social networks, you can create meaningful relationships with your audience.

Social media helps increase brand awareness at little to no cost.

Today, more and more people go online before they make any purchases. Social media marketing is an investment you can count on. To learn more about social media and other online marketing news, visit Marketing Digest today!

Friday, 25 September 2015

Like internet marketing, SEO is ever changing and evolving. It’s not just about keywords anymore, or the rankings, or even who has the most traffic. With the internet only getting bigger, the competition is tougher and getting your business to stay afloat can be a daunting task.

There is no exact timeframe as to when SEO will start working for you. There are a lot of factors for it to be successful—is the website well maintained? How long it has been running? How much content does it hold? How much SEO work has been done to it in the past? It can be very frustrating, but patience is a necessary virtue when you decide to do SEO. However, since internet marketing is the largest marketing platform today, not having the proper strategies is like asking for business suicide.

Successful SEO doesn’t happen in 3 months, or 4, or even 6. You may start to see a change in visits and even sales in a few months’ time, but this doesn’t mean success. The key to successful SEO is in maintaining it rather than constantly changing it when you do not immediately see a difference. So if you don’t see the results you want in a few months, stopping it unadvisable because you might as well be throwing away your money and efforts.

Ranking in all possible marketing platforms is important, but it’s only one aspect of the SEO effort. You should not focus on it alone. Being in the top ranking is useless if you are not generating leads and sales, which is the outcome you want. When you look for SEO firms to hire, choose one that can keep their eye on the multi-faceted goal.

For more internet marketing news and insights, never hesitate to visit http://marketingdigest.com/, your online publication source for the hottest news and insights for everything digital marketing.

Thursday, 24 September 2015

The latest online marketing news indicates that webinars are a great tool, as they fuel audience engagement and generate extra revenue for businesses. In spite of their marketing power, however, they can take your focus away from the other aspects of your business since producing live webinars is energy- and time-consuming. Additional drawbacks include technical glitches, conflicts in schedule, as well as the lack of opportunity to polish content for a flawless delivery. So, if you see webinars as promising marketing tools but don’t like the downsides of doing them on the spot, then automated webinars are for you. Simply put, you record the webinar ahead of time, upload it to your chosen webinar service, set streaming time and registration processes—and voila! Customers and subscribers worldwide can access it at any time of the day and view them multiple times at their own pace.http://bit.ly/1K9Kw34

Wednesday, 23 September 2015

Local marketing is a great way for small and locally-owned businesses to connect with leads and existing customers in their target market. As noted by Ben Gran in an article that appeared on Kabbage (@KabbageInc), “local marketing creates opportunities for small businesses to compete with big brands on a more level playing field.” Gran further notes that many leads and customers are looking for information about local businesses, and thus, are more receptive to seeing advertising that is tailored to their immediate location. Listed below are some of the top trends that will shape local marketing this 2015: Consumers are Rapidly Adopting Mobile & Tablet As reputable local marketing news sites like Marketing Digest have noted, consumers are adopting smartphones and tablets at an unprecedented rate. According to the latest data from comScore (@comScore), 190.3 million people in the United States owned smartphones.http://bit.ly/1NyH1Y5

Tuesday, 22 September 2015

Small business owners need to concentrate their energies on growing their businesses, which is why many are turning to marketing automation to drive their marketing efforts. According to a recent survey from Software Advice (@SoftwareAdvice), an overwhelming 98% of small business owners are looking into marketing automation for the first time. Moreover, almost half (47%) of small business owners are currently using manual methods, such as spreadsheets and one-off emails, to drive their marketing efforts. In a nutshell, marketing automation refers to software platforms and technologies that are designed for businesses and marketing departments to automate repetitive tasks, as well as drive their marketing efforts on multiple channels (such as social media, websites, email, and blogs).http://bit.ly/1NyGTHO

Monday, 21 September 2015

Responsive web design has become vital to brands and businesses that want to maintain a strong online presence. In their article “7 Business Advantages of Responsive Web Design,” TheByte9.com (@thebyte9) team described responsive web design as “a web design and development technique that creates a site or system that reacts to the size of a user’s screen.” Essentially, this practice improves user experience when the site is being accessed on a smartphone or tablet. The main driving factors for the implementation of responsive web design are changes in consumer online browsing habits, as well as changes in consumer buying habits. These days, ranking first on the search results for a keyword isn’t the only thing that matters, as search results change based on context, the user’s location, and the device being used.http://bit.ly/1NyGMfu

As your leading online marketing news website that cares and values the opinions of our readers, Marketing Digest has decided to come up with the Guest Authorship Program. In case you’re not still fully aware of our Authorship Program, then this article is perfect for you.

Benefits

Marketing Digest’s Authorship Program aims to provide a venue for marketing experts to connect and establish their credibility by writing helpful, relevant and impressive content. By being a part of this program, you will most definitely win readers and gain publicity. You also have the luxury of time. With the Authorship Program, you now don’t have to wait for months – or even years – to get published on an online marketing news website! Your article will also be zealously promoted through organic and paid methods.

Editorial Guidelines

Of course, to get your work published, they have to go through a rigorous editorial process. Some of the rules include submitting original, educational and entertaining content covering the area of online marketing and presenting your own images, illustrations, infographics and videos.

How to Submit

Once you’re ready to get published, you can now submit your content through your Marketing Digest WordPress Dashboard. Fill out the necessary fields to complete your submission and click “Submit for Review”. Then, our editors will review your submission. We’ll let you know via email if your content has been accepted for publishing. However, if your submission has failed to meet our editors’ criteria, we will return it to you for revisions.

We are looking forward to seeing your submissions. Get published in a leading online publication like Marketing Digest. For more information, please feel free to visit http://marketingdigest.com/guest-posting-authorship-program/#

Sunday, 20 September 2015

When you hear the term “web design,” you would naturally think of the website’s appearance. Visual elements like vibrant colors, photos, graphics, and texts may be the first things that come to mind. The better these elements are selected and laid out on a page, the more the website will be attractive to users, right? Expert web designers know that effective web design always goes beyond what looks good. While aesthetics are important, it’s all for naught if the designer fails to optimize for user experience. This is exactly the main point of the article by Abbas Rajani for Business 2 Community (@B2Community), entitled “Conversion Focused Web Design – What Designers Should Know”.http://bit.ly/1K9JJ28

Saturday, 19 September 2015

While there are numerous blog posts and articles sounding the death knell for SEO (claiming that it’s time has passed and marketers need to look to other strategies to drive their marketing campaigns), the truth is that SEO continues to lead businesses to success. One thing has changed for SEO, though: it’s not solely about ranking on search results for specific keywords anymore, as it’s also about generating traffic and sales for businesses. SEO is still very much tied to content marketing, as the main goal of Google is to deliver relevant, high-quality search results (i.e. high-quality content) to users when they perform queries. Moreover, when it comes to SEO campaigns, it takes time before the desired results are achieved, so exercising a lot of effort and patience can go a long way.http://bit.ly/1NyGw05

Friday, 18 September 2015

Organic search can be a key starting point for brands and marketers who want to reach their target market. According to a study released by the National Retail Federation (@NRFnews), search marketing (including SEO) was the most effective source for acquiring new customers for 85% of retailers last year. Listed below are some valuable SEO tips you can apply to increase traffic to your website, boost lead generation and conversions, and increase profits for your business. Fundamental SEO Tactics to Master in 2015 In his article for Search Engine Land (@sengineland), entitled “5 Essential SEO Techniques To Master In 2015,” Jim Yu listed down some of the ways marketers can improve their organic search initiatives. Yu advised brands and marketers to align their content and SEO departments to achieve maximum results.http://bit.ly/1NyGl4L

Thursday, 17 September 2015

In today’s wired world, it’s vital for businesses and business owners to maintain a clean online reputation. In the past, most business owners could count on news traveling slowly, which gave them ample time to formulate a plan to counteract negative publicity. These days, however, anyone can post negative reviews, comments, and other unsavory content about you and your business, which could negatively impact your reputation and bottom line. Fortunately, reputation marketing news sites like Marketing Digest can arm you with the insights and tactics you’ll need to counteract negative publicity.http://bit.ly/1NyGaqf

Wednesday, 16 September 2015

Digital marketing is an ever-changing industry, and paid search is no exception. In fact, paid search platforms have grown increasingly complex over the years, making it important for account managers to adapt to changes as they come. Digital marketing specialist Erin Sagin, in her WordStream (@WordStream) article “PPC Worst Practices: 5 “Smart” Strategies That Are Actually Dumb,” expresses sheer dismay at how many remain unable to tailor-fit their PPC strategies to suit present challenges. In turn, she reveals PPC practices that must be avoided: Driving PPC Traffic Directly to the Home Page Articles on PPC news portals like Marketing Digest have stressed repeatedly: redirecting PPC traffic to the home page is not ideal. Instead, creating custom-designed landing pages can help immensely by improving the relevance of the ad, which in turn can meet the needs of those who’re searching for a specific product or service.http://bit.ly/1K9IRKW

In a world where digital marketing is at its peak, business owners are having a hard time trying to figure out how to stand out from the crowd. If you want more website visitors and conversions, creative and eye-popping animated infographics could be the answer.

How to do it

Find your audience’s interestsBefore doing anything, it’s very important to determine your audience and find out what they like. To create an infographic that your audience would rave about, you have to evoke strong feelings. Find out what your audience craves and use that knowledge to your advantage.

Portray a storyHuman beings are naturally inclined to appreciate stories, no matter what they’re about. You can make use of animated infographics by telling a story. Find the best angle, reframe the facts and make the infographic in an unorthodox and unique way. Don’t forget to step out of the box. Be creative!

Give extra attention to your graphicsWhen using infographics, you have to keep in mind that pictures speak louder than the text. Your graphics should have a color palette that represents your brand and goes well with all the other elements.

Research compelling factsYour animated infographic should not just be eye candy--guarantee that your viewers are learning from the helpful and relevant information presented in it. If possible, execute your very own research about your topic and design your graphics. This gives you the opportunity to provide rare and never-before-seen information, and that gives you extra good points!

Publish and promoteUnfortunately, no matter how awesome your animated infographic is, it wouldn’t go viral overnight. This is why it’s just as important to give your work all the help it can get. The best thing you could do is to promote it on your website and all of your social media sites. Good luck!

For the hottest online marketing news and insights, feel free to visit your number one online marketing news website:

Tuesday, 15 September 2015

Doomsayers have been proclaiming PPC’s death since, well, its inception. Yet if the popularity of PPC news portals like Marketing Digest are any indication, then PPC is clearly going strong. Unfortunately, the road to PPC success can be fraught with confusion, mistakes, and a lot of wasted cash. Yes, PPC promises great rewards, but it’s hard to strategically implement without the proper know-how. In his Huffington Post (@HuffingtonPost) article, “How To Write Strong Pay-Per-Click Ad Copy,” contributor and digital marketing guru Jonathan Long exposed some of PPC’s limitations. For instance, PPC ads only offer a mere 95-character limit: 25 characters for the main heading, and 35 characters split between two lines. However, he also explains how one can exploit these limitations to further online marketing ambitions.http://bit.ly/1NyFCAN

Monday, 14 September 2015

Knowledge is power, and there’s nowhere else this adage rings truer than on the Internet. Online marketers and entrepreneurs like you need to stay on top of emerging digital marketing and reputation management trends, as these trends can affect the success of your marketing campaigns. Checking reputation marketing news sites like Marketing Digest on a regular basis can help you stay on top of these trends. We live in the age of social media and constant connectivity, and businesses that want to maintain a competitive edge need to monitor their online reputation. Listed below are valuable reputation marketing tips you need to take note of.http://bit.ly/1O7CiJB

Sunday, 13 September 2015

According to a Social Media Examiner Report, 92% of marketers feel that social media is essential to their businesses, yet only 83% are concerned about the best course of action when targeting their customers and prospects. Knowing these numbers, you may be wondering if you can use social media effectively to bring in conversions. While there is no fail-proof guide to amassing thousands of likes, driving traffic to your website, and increasing conversions, these four expert social marketing insights can help you get on the fast track: Choose the right social media channel for your brand. It’s actually ill-advised to be on all social media channels. Some marketers are very eager to do so at first, only to leave some accounts inactive later on. This creates a poor impression of the business.http://bit.ly/1O7C3OF

Friday, 11 September 2015

Today, amidst technological complexities and market uncertainties, growing a business has become a specialized art that only a few have mastered. A key attribute of these experts is their uncanny ability to put their ears to the ground and LISTEN closely to their target audience/market. One of the best mediums for achieving this is social media marketing. Indeed, social media has transformed into a viable platform for active engagement and interaction between companies/brands and leads/customers on a more personal level. Smart entrepreneurs and marketers know this, and have been taking advantage of some of the most popular social media platforms to gain an edge over the competition. According to a recent Marketo article (@marketo), on average, about 58% of marketers who’ve used social media for three years or longer report a significant boost in sales.http://bit.ly/1O7BJQ4

Thursday, 10 September 2015

The past couple of years have witnessed the phenomenal growth of smartphone and tablet usage. When combined, these devices account for about 60% of today’s total digital media consumption. With this trend comes the need for marketing strategies that effectively targets the growing number of mobile users. That’s why many brands, both global and local, are investing their time and resources into gaining Mobile marketing insights, states the Forbes (@Forbes) article “Mobile In Mind: Thoughts On The Present And Future Of Mobile Marketing”. If you’re not working on upgrading your mobile marketing strategies, you risk getting left behind in the fast-paced and hugely aggressive digital marketing race.http://bit.ly/1O7ATmo

Wednesday, 9 September 2015

Mobile devices have drastically changed the way consumers search for and purchase products and services online. Millions of people use their smartphones to access mobile browsers and apps to perform a multitude of tasks—from watching videos and reading books, to shopping and checking social networking accounts. According to mobile marketing news found in various blogs, apps are now seen as an effective means of reaching out to leads and customers, as well as promote brands. Indeed, marketers are using apps to generate new sources of revenue for their clients.http://bit.ly/1NX6LMy

When faced with any sort of requirement, the initial response of today’s consumer is to search for local stores through the Internet. Gone are the days that we cherish the simple act of walking downtown, window shopping and jumping from store to store for queries about the product we’re looking for. This is the primary reason why you should enlist your business in the local directory. Neglecting local buzz for your business is a missed opportunity for increased leads and plausible customer engagement.

How to get started

Due to wide selection of various internet marketing strategies today, business owners prefer techniques that are tried and tested. While local buzz is proven to be cost-effective and ensure great results, rookies still find local search marketing a daunting and convoluted task.

Here are some steps to follow that will guide you on your way to local stardom.

Understand how to prioritize local search – every chunk of your local marketing game plan should be implemented at the right time and the right pace. Identify first the scope of your efforts depending on the local size and the number of mobile-savvy people in a specific area to accurately meet the demands of your audience.

Determine your approach for adopting local – Jon Schepke recommends a local adoption curve to marketers. This curve designates the steps you should take for every stage of the process. First is called “the crawl” which encourages you to get the basic rights to local listing. Second is “the walk” where SEO and optimizing local pages should be a priority and lastly, “the run” which focuses on the hyper-local paid search.

Get assistance from marketing experts

If local search marketing seems complicated to you, don’t hesitate to ask for help from the most notable marketing experts in your area. However, it is important to stay well-informed on the latest trends in the digital marketing biz. Subscribe to Marketing Digest for up-to-date marketing news and insights from our top authors. http://marketingdigest.com/

Tuesday, 8 September 2015

When you browse content marketing news, what exactly are you looking for? One of the things that you can pick up is the set of approaches you can use for implementing your own content marketing strategy. MarketingSherpa (@MarketingSherpa), a research firm dedicated to finding what works and what doesn’t in all aspects of marketing, published a special report about tackling content marketing with a tactical approach. Why a Tactical Approach? More often than not, people research before they buy, and this is easier than ever thanks to the Internet. Google and Shopper Sciences conducted a study about the research behavior of shoppers and found that in 2011, shoppers used an average of 10.4 information sources to decide on a purchase—almost twice from the previous year’s average of 5.3.http://bit.ly/1E02vJX

Monday, 7 September 2015

In business, CEOs, bosses, clients and the like all have to make decisions. One of the most important of these is allotting budgets to different marketing efforts. For the most part, they’d decide to continue allocating funds to a campaign if it works, i.e. it’s bringing the results it was meant to bring. If you are doing content marketing, how do you assure the decision-maker that your efforts are fruitful? In the digital platform, such a task can be difficult because, by nature, a content marketing campaign works on a longer term. Results may not become apparent for months. The good news is that you can find many ways to show the results. For that, you can consult content marketing news.http://bit.ly/1E023LV

Sunday, 6 September 2015

Web traffic is a website’s lifeblood, particularly those that rely on online sales. Since the early days of Internet marketing and ecommerce, web traffic has been the driving factor to increasing revenue for many businesses worldwide. According to recent ecommerce marketing news from MarketingSherpa (@MarketingSherpa), as detailed in the company’s E-Commerce Benchmark Study, you need to focus more on three major channels—namely SEO, email, and social media marketing—for optimum sales. Here’s how you can drive more significant traffic to your website. Focus on SEO; it’s Far from Dead Disregard those who say that SEO is dead—it’s still very much alive and kicking. The benchmark study found that many entrepreneurs still use SEO practices to drive significant traffic from organic search results to their websites. Now, this could lead to a highly technical and complicated talk, but what really matters are the simple things.http://bit.ly/1J0FumY

Saturday, 5 September 2015

The internet is overflowing with marketing content, and reaching your prospective readers can be a tough battle. Outsmart your competitors by producing quality content what will cultivate understanding of your brand or services. Take note of these tips for developing you content.

Promote brand identity

Before creating powerful content for your website, be clear on what your brand stands for. Set valuable objectives that will enhance you brand’s image. Identify your target customers and study your marketing game plan for long-term goals.

Select an in-demand topic

The contents of your website should focus on majority’s demand. Articles do not need to be hot, they must be facts that your audience cares about. No matter how archaic a topic can be, if it piques people’s interest, they will seek answers for it via search engine. It’s now your opportunity to get them visit your website. They might even refer you to friends and share your content in different social networking sites if they find your content informative and reliable.

Use infographics

Send your site visitors a gift of convenience. Too many words can exhaust your prospects that they might leave your site too soon even before they find out what they’re looking for. Not all internet users enjoy reading, and that’s what infographics are for. Craft stunning layouts for your infographics to captivateyour readers. Make sure to sum up all the necessary data they need in an all-in-one image.

Integrate relevant information

Include well-researched facts in your content and back up the information with statistical data--people believe in numbers more than anything else. Gain their trust with your write-ups and guide them through decision-making as to whether or not they should purchase your product or service.

Be consistent

Repeat your success. Social media is evolving fast, and you need to keep up with the changes. Recognize successful content that has reached more people and keep producing it. Build a strong rapport between you and your clients by being consistent. However, you might have published weaker content that received less recognition. Study these materials and innovate for future development. Lastly, ask yourself this question: How do you envision your readers while they read your content?

Visit Marketing Digest for a weekly supply of fresh concepts and ideas you can adopt for your content marketing efforts. Feel free to explore the website for informative news and insights in the digital marketing world. http://marketingdigest.com/

Friday, 4 September 2015

In the world of ecommerce, a website either makes or breaks a business. Whether you own a small business or a large company, you will need to rely on your website and use it as a tool to sell your products and services. What you need to do is make sure that your website is doing exactly just that: generating leads, converting site visitors into paying customers, and boosting your sales. According to the latest ecommerce marketing news from Entrepreneur.com (@Entrepreneur), entitled “10 Hacks to Help Your Website Generate More Leads, Sales and Revenue,” you don’t really need a major do-over to optimize your website’s performance. Here are some helpful tips to get you started on the right track.http://bit.ly/1J0FaEw

Thursday, 3 September 2015

One of the main challenges for mergers and acquisitions is creating a single, clear brand identity for the restructured organization. Especially now that most marketing efforts are directed in the digital world, how can a restructured organization rebrand itself, yet still maintain a strong lead in the playing field? MarketingSherpa’s (@MarketingSherpa) case study on Aptean (@Aptean), highlighted in their article “Brand Marketing: Rebranding effort puts $21 million in sales pipeline,” provides some online marketing insights on how a global company formed via acquisition was able to generate a $21 million sales pipeline through its rebranding endeavors.http://bit.ly/1E01odv

Wednesday, 2 September 2015

While some companies would prefer to focus on one specific channel for their marketing campaigns, multi-channel marketing can be even more effective when utilized correctly. The key, of course, is understanding your target market; the more you know about their habits, the more personalized and engaging your campaigns will be. Here are some online marketing tips that you can use to choose the correct combination of marketing channels: Do Market Research – Do your research and get to know your target market. What is the common age bracket? What do most of them do for a living? What personal insights do they possess about your industry? These are all simple things, that when targeted with the right content and CTA, will yield positive results.http://bit.ly/1J0EFu9

Tuesday, 1 September 2015

An effective advertising and marketing campaign, be it web-based or in print is only good if it reaches and engages your target audience. In today’s time there are countless options to choose from, however, some business owners make the mistake of thinking that search engine optimization (SEO) is the only and best choice. Yes, search engine is undoubtedly a highly effective and efficient channel, but leading local marketing news sites like Marketing Digest highlight the fact it is not your only option. A MarketingSherpa (@MarketingSherpa) blog article entitled Local Marketing Chart: How do customers search for products and services? by Daniel Burstein discusses the different channels that people use to search for a product or service, and it is not shocking at all that the traditional methods, along with more modern ones have found themselves with a good standing.http://bit.ly/1E00X2M

Gadgets have become the norm in our everyday lives that we feel like something is missing when we don’t have a phone in our pocket. Mobile phones and tablets are also being optimized to be more convenient, to be able to host applications for which we would normally need a computer to use, making us spend more and more time on our mobile devices. Everything is being optimized for mobile use now, so why shouldn’t your website be?

Mobile optimization improves user experience

Nobody wants to browse a desktop website on their smartphone. That’s like a pair of shoes that doesn’t fit. Browsing on mobile phones is hassle-free as it can be done everywhere. This usually means short but precise content.

Mobile gets more traffic

Mobile browsing is rising, so mobile optimized websites are just as important as desktop versions. If your website doesn’t look good on mobile, smartphone users are most likely to move on to the next.

Mobile websites are accessible anytime, anywhere

Smartphones and tablets make it possible to access browsing anytime. Having your website optimized for mobile provides easier connectivity, which means constant traffic and an opportunity to connect with your target market wherever they may be.

Mobile is slowly becoming the primary medium for Web browsing. Like social media, mobile is a platform that you should not overlook when it comes to internet marketing. For more news and insights about online marketing, feel free to visit http://marketingdigest.com/.

About Me

Megan Pearson is an avid online marketing consultant and evangelist. She is also passionate about design and fashion. Being part of Marketing Digest allows her to keep track of developments and innovation in the industry and throw in some of her design concepts.